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Risking a Repeat of Election 2000

November 5, 2012

Exclusive: President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney are locked in a tight race with Tuesday’s election likely to be decided in a few hard-fought battleground states, much like 2000. And, Robert Parry sees other troubling parallels to that disastrous election.

By Robert Parry

When I look at Election 2012, I am reminded of eerie parallels to Election 2000. In both cases, imperfect Democratic presidents had made progress righting the American ship of state, improving the economy, reducing levels of violence abroad and demonstrating that government could be a force for good at home.

So, the choice was whether to continue those policies under the Democrats – Al Gore in 2000 and Barack Obama in 2012 – or to heed Republican promises about how much better everything would be if the federal government were pushed out of the way and the “free market” were allowed to operate with fewer regulations and lower taxes.

President Barack Obama on the campaign trail. (Photo credit: barackobama.com)

There was also discontent on the Left where the actions of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were deemed insufficiently progressive, both in domestic and foreign policy. There was much talk about how the Democratic and Republican parties were essentially the same and that who won didn’t matter.

The U.S. news media also behaved irresponsibly during Campaign 2000, treating it as a time to haze Al Gore by running him through an impossible obstacle course and penalizing him for stumbles, while applying far gentler standards for his rival, George W. Bush. Gore was the obnoxious know-it-all; Bush the charming “regular guy.”

So, a combination of a demoralized Left, an energized Right and a goofy news media created the conditions for a near dead-heat election in 2000, a nightmarish déjà vu to the situation that exists in the United States on the eve of this Election Day. [For details on Election 2000, see our book, Neck Deep.]

I also am hearing similar arguments today from folks on the Left that there’s no real difference between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, just as I was told by friends in Ralph Nader’s campaign that there wasn’t “a dime’s worth of difference” between Al Gore and George W. Bush a dozen years ago.

In 2000, when I expressed my concerns about the neoconservatives who surrounded Bush, I was told that I was being paranoid, that Bush would push aside the neocons if he got elected and would listen instead to the “realists” who had dominated George H.W. Bush’s foreign policy.

It turned out that these friends were wrong on both counts. Few people today would still argue that Al Gore would have been as disastrous a president as George W. Bush was, nor would they say that the neocons didn’t have Bush’s ear at crucial moments, especially after the 9/11 attacks.

The results of Bush’s eight years in office were catastrophic to the nation and the world. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis – and nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers – were killed in a war launched under false pretenses. Trillions of dollars were wasted on war and other military spending. Bush’s tax-cut and deregulatory fervor contributed to massive federal deficits and a bubble-and-bust economy that exploded into a near depression in 2008.

Bush’s contempt for the science of global warming also meant that the United States did next to nothing to address that emerging existential threat to human civilization. And his right-wing appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court wiped out decades of painstaking reforms aimed at limiting the power of special-interest money in U.S. politics.

A Gore Presidency

By contrast, a President Gore might well have taken actions to avert the 9/11 attacks. He understood the threat from al-Qaeda and would surely not have blown off the CIA warnings in summer 2001 as Bush did. Even if 9/11 had occurred, Gore would not have used the crisis to wage an unprovoked war against Iraq.

Gore also would not have enacted massive tax cuts benefiting millionaires; he would have been a more careful steward of the economy; he would have appointed more reasonable justices to the Supreme Court; and he would have taken action on one of his personal priorities, global warming.

It is painful to think how different the world might be today if the U.S. media/political system had behaved more responsibly in 2000. But what is perhaps even more painful is how few lessons have been learned. According to some polls, a plurality of the American electorate is prepared to vote for another “anti-government” Republican in 2012.

After a brief four-year respite from Republican rule, the nation and the world are finally digging out of the wreckage left behind by Bush. The war in Iraq has ended; the Afghan War is winding down; the financial system is stabilizing; the employment situation is gradually improving.

While President Obama certainly deserves some criticism, especially for his failure to break more fully with Bush’s national security policies, Obama actually has turned out to be a better executive than I had expected in 2008 when I viewed him as lacking in administrative experience.

Yet, over the past four years, Obama has applied an analytical approach to decision-making which could be a model for future presidents. He “works” the available data and then reaches clear conclusions. His decision to authorize the special-operations raid against Osama bin Laden may be the best known example of this approach, but he has applied it to a variety of hard choices, both foreign and domestic.

It is this quality of judgment that former President Clinton is referring to when he says he is “more enthusiastic” about Obama in 2012 than he was in 2008. Obama also has genuine accomplishments on his résumé. Though many on the Left have focused on his failure to achieve some of their priorities, he has made progress in the face of unyielding and unrelenting Republican obstruction.

Yes, the $787 billion stimulus bill would have helped the economy more if it were larger; a Medicare-for-all approach to health-care reform would have saved more money; a greater emphasis could have been placed on global warming; ideally, Wall Street reform could have been tougher; and prosecutions for financial and national security crimes would have upheld the principle of equal protection under the law.

But Obama did avert what could have been a worldwide financial collapse, a danger that clearly influenced how aggressively he felt he could deal with Wall Street abuses and Bush’s national security crimes. The potential chaos of a global depression had to be kept in mind when he was making his early decisions.

Concentrating on the present and the future, rather than accountability for the past, Obama managed to save the U.S. auto industry while requiring improved fuel efficiency standards; he expanded funding for alternative energy making that a priority not seen since Jimmy Carter’s presidency; he legislated new regulations on the health-insurance and financial industries, albeit not as sweeping as some would have liked.

Obama also oversaw progress toward equal rights for women, gays and Lesbians. And he appears poised to implement several major foreign policy initiatives if he wins reelection, including an expected settlement of the Iranian nuclear dispute and a new push for peace in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

I was told by one source knowledgeable about the Iranian situation that major progress could occur within days of the U.S. election, if Obama wins, but that the neocons around Romney would likely reject good-faith negotiations and instead pursue Iraq-style “regime change” in Iran. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Iran War on the Ballot.”]

Neocon Resurgence

In another flashback to Election 2000, my warnings about a neocon resurgence under President Romney have drawn similar skepticism from some folks on the Left who consider my concerns “alarmist” or “apocalyptic.” It is again the view of some that there is no real difference between a President Obama and a President Romney.

The Romney campaign is also playing to that sentiment during the final days before the election. Jettisoning his earlier self-presentation as a “severely conservative” leader, Romney has shape-shifted into someone who wants to compromise with Democrats and who won’t act on controversial social issues.

This last-minute switch is reminiscent of the Republican strategy before Election 2010 to play up a commitment to “jobs, jobs, jobs.” However, after winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives and various governorships, the GOP pushed laws restricting abortion (including a plan for “trans-vaginal ultra-sounds”), punishing undocumented immigrants, breaking labor unions, blocking gay marriage and restricting voting rights.

In Campaign 2012, the U.S. news media also has repeated its tendency to bend in the face of well-organized pressure from the Right, a tendency that I witnessed during my days at the Associated Press, Newsweek and PBS in the 1980s and 1990s as well as in Campaign 2000 and during much of Bush’s presidency.

Since 2009, the national press corps has framed almost everything in terms of Obama’s “failures,” rather than explaining the fuller context. For instance, continued partisan infighting has been described primarily as Obama’s “failure” to change the political climate of Washington rather than as a ruthless Republican strategy to sabotage the President’s economic policies and profit off the discontent of the American people.

It’s also conventional wisdom that Obama should suffer at the polls for the stubbornly high unemployment rate, even though journalists know that when they repeat that meme they are validating the GOP strategy of making the U.S. economy “scream” and making Obama pay.

So on the eve of Election 2012, many of the same elements are there that were present in Election 2000. A significant portion of the electorate is confused and misinformed; the press corps tilts rightward not to offend the Right; elements of the Left still won’t distinguish between shades of gray; and the Republican Party is prepared to do almost anything to regain the White House.

It is a recipe for a potential repeat of a national and global tragedy. As Al Gore might say, the earth is in the balance.

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his new book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).

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15 comments for “Risking a Repeat of Election 2000”

F. G. Sanford

November 5, 2012 at 12:43 pm

Raoul de Roussy de Sales’ 1941 book is probably out of print, but I’m sure most public libraries could obtain a copy. The book is nearly a thousand pages long, and it contains translations of speeches given by the most effective orator of the twentieth century. In a thousand pages, almost nothing of substance is said. They are long on patriotic nationalism, love of country and optimism for the prospect of a spectacular future, if only the nation will follow the “plan”. The speeches are long on patriotism, and short on facts. The specifics of the “plan” are never revealed. Instead, there are open ended generalizations, vague references to the subversive defilers, naysayers and pessimists. References to The Almighty are more than plentiful, and the notion that the “plan” is somehow inspired by His Will is a recurrent motif. I watched an excerpt of a speech on CNN this morning that hearkened that same recipe. Admittedly, it was not delivered with anything close to the skill possessed by the archetypal maestro, but all the elements were there. Hyper-nationalism, religious fervor, the implication of manifest destiny, and the insinuation that those who dissent are less than true patriots were all alluded to deftly. Many words were spoken, but little was said. I would challenge anyone to point to a concrete outline resembling a “plan”. The crowd cheered just the same: “USA USA USA”, never bothering to ask themselves just what of any substance was said. The appeal to emotional undertones while skilfully avoiding facts is a recipe that still works. I just hope it works on less than 50% of America’s voting public

fosforos

November 5, 2012 at 1:07 pm

If there was more than “a dime’s worth of difference” between Gore (who won the election) and Bush, why did Gore (together with his whole party) do everything in his power to legitimize Bush’s theft of the election? He and they did that, didn’t they? Your whole case rests on counterfactuals!

Rehmat

November 5, 2012 at 2:00 pm

both Al-Gore and Bush were on Rothschilds payroll. Romney is part of Jewish-controlled Wall Street banking mafia while Obama’s political career was groomed by Chicago’s Jewish crime mafia.

However, one thing is for sure – the Zionist G-d Lucifer is bound to help Ben Obama.

When Senator Barack H. Obama was campaigning for the White House, former Jewish Congressman and judge from Chicago, Abner Mikvaner, had said: “I think when it is all over, people are going to say that Barack Obama is the first Jewish President”.

In August 2008 – during a fundraising event in San Francisco, the former House Speaker and Israel-Firster, Nancy Pelosy, had introduced Senator Barack Obama by hailing him: “A leader that God has blessed with at this time”.

Professor Paul Kengor (Grove City College, Pennsylvania), has called Barack H. Obama, “God“, in an article, entitled “Obama, The God That Failed” in the Zionist daily online magazine, American Thinker, published on April 5, 2011. Dr. Kengor, being a Catholic, seems to be very much in touch with his G-d (not Christ of course). He is author of books like; God and Ronald Reagan, God and George W. Bush and God and Hillary Clinton.

rehmatshit, you’re summoned to leave immediately for your iranian paradise, riding a drone into the puppet president’s residence in the style of Pat Butram in the movie “Dr. Strangelove, or how I learned to love the bomb” The donkeys and an ample supply of porkchops w/be arriving soon for your journey. My toilet just backed up. I guess your bullshit gave it an allergic reaction.

Rehmat

November 5, 2012 at 9:40 pm

I wonder if the Zionazi idiot know that Obama’s Jewish senior advisor Valerie Bowman Jarrett is negotiating a deal with Iran’s Supreme Leader’s advisors to dump the Zionist entity if Obama is re-elected?

Moreover, as a self-denial moron – he will deny the news of Mossad’s attempted assassination of Hillary Clinton. Dr. Boyce Watkins and Dr. Wilmer Leon discuss the issue in a video below.

borat- your loo problem is down to you – in fact it must be overflowing with all the Zionazi crap you spill out.

CORNEL WILLIAMS

November 6, 2012 at 4:17 am

Gee, I would like to know a perfect President. Please, someone name a perfect President. Obama has the potential to be a great President, based upon the standards used to judge Presidents. But all of them had flaws. Again, please name a perfect President.

borat

November 6, 2012 at 8:48 pm

Herr Thomas got stuck in hitler’s bunker loo and has never been able to extricate himself.

matt carmody

November 5, 2012 at 4:33 pm

The fact that Obama authorized the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen alone is enough for me to vote for either Stein or Jerry White the SEP candidate. And Gore betrayed everyone who voted for him by failing to challenge the unconstitutional interference in the 2000 election by the gang of five.

Charles

November 5, 2012 at 4:50 pm

Yes, yes, the better of the two candidates is imperfect, so do what you can to help the worst of the candidates. Such is the insane logic that we faced in 2000 and face again today.

Every president I can think of did some truly rotten things. Ike overthrew the Shah, setting us up for the poisonous relations with Iran now– and he supported dictatorships all through Latin America. Kennedy almost blew up the world through arrogance and inadequate intelligence. Johnson, well there’s Vietnam. Nixon– a criminal from start to finish. Carter–started the war in Afghanistan and started support for the Contras. Reagan–sent the US into a debt crisis. On and on. Not one saint among them.

But, you know, when we voted in the better of two bad choices, some things didn’t happen that probably would have under the worse. And the world survived some things it might well not have done.

Among the things people will be voting for if they vote for a third party candidate:

War with Iran Tax cuts for the very rich More reactionary justices like Scalia on the Supreme Court Crippling deficits An end to public education An end to federal disaster relief Privatization of Medicare and Social Security

All of these policies have been advocated by Mitt Romney and/or the man he chose as his running mate

matt carmody

November 5, 2012 at 5:55 pm

Obama was chosen so that a black Democrat would be responsible for ending social security. That is his raisin d’etre. There’s absolutely no difference btw him and Romney when it comes to screwing over working people in this country .

Hillary

November 6, 2012 at 6:20 am

Who is this Barb Weir and isn’t it a bit late to propose Netanyahu’s candidacy for U.S. President ?

You still don’t get it, do you? Better hope you’re not on his hit list! Vote Green, vote fascist or don’t vote those are your choices and you’re voting fascist. Still I must admit I like those shiny new Jack Boots and that Obama armband is to die for, quite literally! Can I get a heil Barry Robert?

Mike

November 6, 2012 at 1:18 pm

“There was also discontent on the Left where the actions of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were deemed insufficiently progressive”…

I think that statement illustrates in a nutshell the problem with this article. Calling Obama “insufficiently progressive” is kind of like balling George W. Bush “insufficiently progressive”. The problem with Obama is not that he is “pretty good but not good enough”, as the “insufficiently progressive” label suggests, but rather that he is an assassin, a war criminal, an enemy of civil liberties, an imperialist, a corporate panderer, and one who is willing to attack the environment when it suits him. If this is what counts for being “Insufficiently progressive”, if being “progressive” means being an apologist for these things, then no thanks. Of course, the article didn’t even mention Obama’s kill lists, his extrajudicial assassinations of American citizens, his torture of Bradley Manning, his decision to fast track drilling in the Arctic by Shell, his support for indefinite detention, his use of the 1917 Espionage Act to persecute more whistle blowers than all other presidents combined, his refusal to prosecute high level Wall Street executives for criminal activity related to the financial meltdown (after all, he told Wall Street after his election that he was protecting them from the people with pitchforks), his support for the regime installed by the illegal military coup in Honduras…the list of things that this author didn’t bother to mention, either because these things are too inconvenient to mention, or because he supports these positions that Obama has taken–it’s hard to tell, but it is typical of the sort of articles that Obama sycophants write, where they ignore those little facts that don’t fit the narrative they are trying to tell.

Nahidul Islam

November 6, 2012 at 11:30 pm

Just released an amazing NYU study of President Obama and Mitt Romney’s body language shows on a word by word basis what each candidate emphasizes. http://gesturecloud.org